• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Skip to navigation
Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Connect
    • Custom Events
    • Slack
    • RSS
    • Send us a Tip
  • Advertise
  • Consulting
  • About
The Spoon
  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Advertise
  • About

Survey: Older Consumers Not Buying Groceries Online

by Chris Albrecht
July 30, 2018July 31, 2018Filed under:
  • Data Insights
  • Delivery & Commerce
  • Future of Grocery
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Not many Americans over the age of 50 are shopping for groceries online, according to a recent study conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation and the AARP (hat tip to Supermarket News).

The IFIC and AARP surveyed 1,004 Americans ages 50 years and older last month and found only:

  • 17 percent had ever ordered groceries to be picked up from a store
  • 17 percent ordered from a prepared meal delivery service
  • 16 percent ordered groceries to be delivered
  • 10 percent ordered from a meal kit delivery service

Older consumers, it seems, prefer going to the store; 90 percent of respondents shopped at the supermarket at least once a month, 71 percent at a super-store and 46 percent at a warehouse/discount club.

The survey shows that older consumers can see the value in ordering online: not having to travel to the store, a wide variety of products and eliminating the “physical burden of getting around the story or carrying groceries.” But, there are barriers that prevent them from fully adopting the technology.

The top barrier was high delivery fees for 89 percent of respondents. Coming right under that, 88 percent said that they still want to see and touch any item purchase to ensure its quality. These people had concerns about purchasing bad or bruised produce, as well as potential difficulty in returning a product if they ordered it online.

This desire to personally inspect food before purchasing is actually cross-generational. An eMarketer study earlier this year found that 96.1 percent of respondents shopped for food and beverages in-store, and an Adeptmind study this month found that the biggest perk of shopping in-store was to evaluate the product in person.

From the data, older consumers who do shop online are more attentive to food labels — but, they overwhelmingly say that label information is harder to get online. This makes sense for an aging population, which probably has to be more careful about what it eats. Displaying nutritional information more clearly could be an opportunity for retailers to open up more of this market.

It seems like these numbers will change as different generations who are more used to technology and the act of ordering groceries online ages up. But it’s still good to examine these numbers and look at implementing changes today to adapt to the older consumer market of tomorrow.


Related

New Data Show Increased Consumer Interest in Online Grocery Shopping

All of the investments grocery retailers are making into robotic fulfillment, curbside pickup and even self-driving delivery hinge on the idea that shoppers will migrate from their habitual shopping in-store to shopping online. That can be a big ask when talking about a product that people often want to look…

Gallup Poll: Grocery Shoppers Prefer In-Store to Online, Shun Meal Kits

A recent poll by Gallup shows that the 84 percent of U.S. adults say they "never" buy groceries online, and 89 percent never order meal kits. By contrast, 81 percent say that they shop for groceries in person at a store at least once a week. (Hat tip: Food Dive)…

Gallup: 81 Percent of Americans “Never” Order Groceries Online (But That’s Still Good News for Grocers)

A survey out from Gallup last week showed that the vast majority of Americans are not shopping for groceries online. According to Gallup, "Eighty-one percent of Americans say they never order groceries online, while 11% say they do so at least once a month." Gallup posited the following explanation for…

Get the Spoon in your inbox

Just enter your email and we’ll take care of the rest:

Find us on some of these other platforms:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
Tagged:
  • AARP
  • data
  • old people
  • research

Post navigation

Previous Post White Castle and DoorDash Partner, Offer Free Delivery
Next Post Higher Steaks is Developing Cultured Pork for the Masses

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Get The Spoon in Your Inbox

The Spoon Podcast Network!

Feed your mind! Subscribe to one of our podcasts!

Starbucks Unveils Green Dot Assist, a Generative AI Virtual Assistant for Coffee Shop Employees
Impulse Announces Its Battery-Integrated Cooktop Becomes First Certified to Applicable UL Safety Standards
Tasting Cultivated Seafood in London’s East-end
Tasting Cultivated Seafood in London’s East-end
After Leaving Starbucks, Mesh Gelman Swore Off The Coffee Biz. Now He Wants To Reinvent Cold Brew Coffee

Footer

  • About
  • Sponsor the Spoon
  • The Spoon Events
  • Spoon Plus

© 2016–2025 The Spoon. All rights reserved.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.